Car-door.



I. H. COONS.

CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR.12. |915.

Patented Mar. 5,1m4

, 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

ff COOPZS l i ano/HWS J. H. CO0NS. c-Aa'nooR.

APPLICATION ELLED APR. l2. 1915.

Patented Mar. 5, v1918.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@WMe/135 y Jmscoons, or nUsHNnLL, ILLINOIS, Assieivon or cnn-HALF 'ro HARRY J. Danza, 'f or BUsmvnLL, iLLmoIs. i f

CAR-DOOR.

To all whom, t may concern:

, Be it known that'I, Jams H. CooNs, a lcitizen ofthe United States, residing at -Bushnell, in the county of McDonough and State of Illinois, have invented certain new ckly opened, very little force being rered in the operation.'

I further object of my invention consists l the provision of a car door including a 'plurality of sections linked in pairs in such a manner that any turning movement of either one -of the sections of a pair of sections will bebalanced by turning movement of the other, only such force as is necessary to overcome the inertia of the doors and jthe friction of the moving parts being necesv sary towoperate the doors.

A still further object of my invention consists in a novel method of.applying the doors to a car of any suitable type and includes a casing of simple construction appli, cable to the outer wall of the car about the 3o door opening and forming a partial housing for the doors in eitheropen or closed position.

With these and other objects in view, my

invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically` pointed out in the claims whichare attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved door applied to a car, the door being shown inclosed position by' full lines and in partially open position by dot and dash lines and the'door casing Vbeing shown in section to permit illustration of the operating mechanism of the door;

ig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, also showing the doors in closed position;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view 'of one pair of door sections removed from ,the car, showing the manner in which they are linked together. l l

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indi- Specitiion of Letters I'Pa'tent. Application anni Apen' 12, 1915. serial no. ao,s22.

' rovision of a doorl which may be easily and Patenten afines. 191s.

cated in vall the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

Although it will be understood that my improved door construction may be employed for other without slight moditications', it is primarily intended for car doors and for this reason I have illustrated it in connection with a conventional form of car having a wall 10 provided with a door opening 11. My improved door construction includes a substantially rectangular shaped frame 12, preferably formed of metal strips, as shown in Fig. 2. This frame proper includes spaced upper and lower frame 'members 13 and 14 and end frame members 15. Furthermore, the frame, at either side of the door opening, is strengthened by vertical braces 16. This frame is secured to the outer wall ofthe car with the brace strips 75 16 extending vertically at'the sides of the door opening, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings by bolts 17, certain of which also serve as pivots for the door sections. For this reason, the specific construction of the bolts will be explained in connection with the mounting of the door. A downwardly depending housing 18 is secured to the 'outer wall of the car immediately below the opening to support the door operating mechanism. l

My improved car door rincludes upper and lower left hand door vsections `19 and 20, respectively, and upper and lower'right, hand door sections 21 and, 22, respectively. Each of these door sections is preferably made in the form of a rectangular or squared plate of heavy sheet metal and the sections are so proportioned that inclosed position of the door, the left hand sections at their inner edges slightly overlap the other sections, while the 'upper sections at the lower edges slightly overlap the lower sections.` Each of these plates forming a door section, is reinforced upon its inner side by an 10,0 L-shaped brace '23, the angle of which forms the point of pivotal support of the door, section, being located at the upper outer corner of an upper door section or at'thc lower cuter corner of a lower door section. 105 The free ends of the sides of the braces 23 are preferably further braced b v an arcuate strip of sheet metal 24 which lextends substantially diagonally cf the door section.

Each of the boltsl 17 passes through the car -110 purposes, either'with or 60 wall 10, through the frame 12 and through an l eye formed on the laterally directed end of a bracket carried by the car wall, clampingV -nuts 26 being threaded upon lthe bolt vto engage one against the outer` face of the veye of the bracket 25 and thefother against the inner face of the frame.V` yThe bolts arealso clamped against movement through the c'v wall by spaced nuts 27 ,and

outer face of the carwall.

Y A link 29 is pivotally connectedat one end to the upper inner corner of the door section 19 and atits lower end to the lupper outer corner of the door section 20, while a similar link 30 is pivotally connected at one end to the upperinner corner of the door section 21 Vand at its lower end to the upper outer corner of the door section 22. It will, therefore, 'be clear that swinging movement of either lower door section will cause swing-V ing \movement of the 'corresponding upper door Section, the door sections sliding freely over each other with their body portions passing beneath the arcuate braces 24 during opening and closing of the door as a whole,

the direction of movement of the various door sections, upon opening of the door, being illustrated by arrows in Fig. 1. y

As a means for operating the door, each lower door section is provided at its outer corner with a diagonally extending lever arm 31 and links 32 connect the free ends of these lever arms with the ends of a .lever 33 carried by a shaft 34, each link, as shown,

including in its length a turn buckle 35 by means of which it may be adjusted. The

shaft 34 has a reduced cylindrical terminal 36 at its inner end which is journaled in a bearing 37 carried by the casing 18 and is formed adjacent such reduced terminal with a squared portion 38 which extends through a correspondingly formed opening in the intermediate portion of the lever 33, whereby turning of the shaft will turn the lever. A washer `39 is preferably interposed between the bearing 37 and lever 33 to properly space the latter from the bearing. The outer end of the shaft is journaled in a face plate 40 which, together with the casing 18, forms a -housing for the entire door operating mechanisnn The freeend of this shaft is screw threaded, as shown at 41 and adjaslotted for the passage of the crank handle 43 and one side also slotted for the lock operating lever, not yet described.

The door section 21, at its lower inner corwere of which is spaced from the; outer face of the door section to' overlap theinner edge4 g of the door section 19 when the door is closed,A

l tions and to brace the door vsections against'. frlateral movement when the door is closed. Y lFui-thermore, the lower edge of the lower those bolts vvliicli?" serve as pivots for door sections passth'rough bearing plates 28 which engage against the to prevent over-movement of the door secdoor section 20 preferably adjacent its inner corner, carries a bracket47 havingan out- Wardly extending locking tongue 48 which cao-acts with a lock.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be clear that the upper and lower door sections counterbalance each other. VThat is, during opening of the door,

'although a certain amount of force is ref quired to swing the lower door section upwardly against gravity, depending upon the vweight of such door section. the upper d r section, because of its weight, is exerting0 a like force to swing it downwardly. Of course, when the door is half open,'this ballance is exactly reversed, the lower door section tending to move to fully open position -ing a correspondingly great resistanceto opening. Each pair of door sections, there- )by gravity and the upper door section offer` f fore, balances the other and only such forceas is necessary to overcome the inertia of the' claims, may be made at any time, without in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention. Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new 1s:

1. A door construction including a pair` of lower door sections pivoted at their lower outer corners, a pair of upper door sections pivoted at their upper outer corners, links connecting the upper inner corners of the upper door sections with the upper outer cor-qy ners of the lower door sections, lever arms extending from the pivotal corners of thev lower door section, a shaft, a lever carriedV v by the shaft to turn therewith, and having oppositely extending arms, links connecting the free ends .of the arms with the lever arms of the door sections, and means for turning the shaft.

2. A door construction including a pair or" lower door sections'pivoted at their lower outer corners, a pairof upper door sections pivoted at their upper outer corners, links connecting the upper-.inner corners of the upper door sections with the upper outer corners of the lower door sections, lever; from the pivotal corners of arms extending the lower .door sections,^a shaft, a lever carried by the shaft to turn therewith and hav- .ing oppositely extending arms, links con- `necting the free ends ofthe arms with the lever arms of the door sections, and means for t' .n1ng the shaft, the door sections, 1n

active position, being so arranged that the lnner edges of one section and the corre-rs and to close a single door opening, each section .being mounted for pivotal movement toward and from the door opening, means connecting one section of each pair with" a single section of the other' pair, and means for pivotally operating the sections of the lower pair to simultaneously move all of the sections of both pairs to open or close said door opening.

4. A door including independently pivot-' ally mounted upper sections and independently pivotally mounted lower sections, all of such sections together forming a door for a single door opening, means for simultaneously and similarlyoperatin the lower sections to move said sections om oxytoward each other with respect tothe ddor` opening, and connections between each lower sections and one of the upper sections to compel a similar movement of the upper sections with respect yto the door opening in the movement of the lower sections.

5. A door construction inclu four similar sections arranged in upper an lower door opening.

pairs 'and adapted'togethe'r to'form a door for a single door opening, each section be ing pivotally supported, and means connecting the respectively alined upper and lower` sections vertically of the door openingto, .compel opposite movements of-said connected sections toward the transverse center of the 'door opening in a pivotal movement of the sections, whereby the weight of thev sections balance eachother in movement.

6. A door construction including an up-A per pairof pivotally mounted sections, a

lower pair of pivotally mounted sections, all

l of said sections together-forming a door for 'a single door opening, means Vfor: pivotally actuating vthe lower l doorvv sections in oppositedirections .withrespect to each other,

and connections between each lower door sections and an immediately adjacent u per door'section to compel a movement o the upper door section toward and` from-the connected lower door' section in movement 'of said lower door section to open or. close the 7. A door construction including `an npfper pair of sections, a lower pair oisections,

all of said sections'to'g'ether :forming-"al door fora single door opening, pivotal supports 'A for the upper sections at their remote upper corners, pivotal supports for the lower secfor moving the lower sections upwardly and outwardly on their yp the door opening, andlconnections between the lower sect1ons and upper sections to simultaneously move said upper sectionsA downwardly and outwardly with respect to `the door opening in the'said movement of the lower sections.

In testimony whereof I ailix my in presence of two Witnesses. y

JAL'IES H. COONS.v [LBJ Witnesses: 4 t

Aronne C. Mason,

JAMES N. MCCLANN.

tlons at then' remote lower corners, means.

vots with respect to 

